Advertisement

Back in 1994, the Free Press crusaded against the cash-burning power plant and dioxin generator on the South Side of Columbus. The words “Shut it down!” with the subtitle “June Alexander battles cancer and the trash-burner” on the June 1994 cover. The July-August 1994 Free Press issue revealed a rigged trash-burning test hiding record levels of carcinogenics spewing from the plant. With Theresa Mills, the late Roberta Booth and the Loscko family and workers on the inside, the Free Press broke story after story. An article by Free Press Editor Bob Fitrakis appeared in the now-defunct Columbus Guardian with leaked internal safety memos showing a tenth of the workforce at the plant had died during its decade of operation. The plant was shut later year. Now the stacks have been turned to rubble and the plant is dead. May the workers rest in peace. These articles and more will be included in the fifth volume of The Fitrakis Files scheduled to be published this spring.